Experts question Microsoft's decision to retire XP

[JMH]

Microsoft will "draw a line in the sand" come April 2014 when Windows XP exits support, security researchers said today, even if millions of customers are still running the aged OS and a zero-day bug threatens the Windows ecosystem.
Or maybe not. Other experts believe Microsoft will have no choice but to continue supporting XP.
Windows XP, now in its twelfth year, is slated for retirement on April 8, 2014. After that date, the ancient OS will receive no further security updates or bug fixes, except to enterprises that pay for high-priced support contracts.
PCs running XP will not suddenly stop working, of course, but they will be at risk to attacks exploiting vulnerabilities uncovered -- and patched for other editions of Windows -- from that point on.
Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash. research firm that focuses solely on Microsoft, posed a scenario.

http://www.itworld.com/windows/325305/experts-question-microsofts-decision-retire-xp

 

[cluberti]

ITWorld - where "expert" != expert. Michael Cherry, who praises MS and it's products about half of the time, with mostly back-handed compliments (don't believe me? Search for yourself) is not an expert on MS support by any means. And the second expert is a manager from VMware, which sell products claiming to support DOS and Windows 95 - VMware's idea of "support" and what is actual enterprise software support are two vastly different things.

So, in this case, I refer to the great Inigo Montoya, who once said:
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

 

[niemiro]

XP has to go at some point. It has been here too long already, its retirement has been well publicised, and better alternatives are already available.

Of course some people are going to moan about it, there will always be people who resist change, but let's get it out of the way with, and get on with our lives. Even with all the haters, Windows 8 is actually surprisingly good once you give it a try. :)

 

[Corrine]

Cherry's scenario is a joke. Besides, in the extremely unlikely event such a Windows XP security vulnerability were to be discovered as the cause of a massive DDoS "bringing the entire Internet to its knees.", who is Cherry to say that Microsoft wouldn't put researchers on it to release an update? Microsoft isn't about to say "Tough luck world. We said we're done and we're done."

Are there people who will continue using Windows XP as long as the hardware holds up? Absolutely. There is someone on one of the other forums that I admin who is still running Windows 98SE! Another person still has a computer running Windows 2000, although that one is never connected to the internet. There is some program on it that the person's spouse uses.